Friday, February 18, 2011

2-18-11


1.) Who was Phineas Gage? What did he do for a living?
2.) What happened to him?
3.) How did his accident change who Phineas was?
4.) What did scientist learn from Phineas' case?

48 comments:

  1. Gage is the index case of an individual who suffered major personality changes after brain trauma.Gage was foreman of a crew of railroad construction workers who were excavating rocks to make way for the railroad track. This involved drilling holes deep into the boulders and filling them with dynamite. A fuse was then inserted, and the entrance to the hole plugged with sand, so that the force of the explosion would be directed into the boulder. This was done with a crow bar-like tool called a tamping iron.

    On 13th September, 1848, 25-year-old Gage and his crew were working on the Rutland and Burlington Railroad near Cavendish in Vermont. Gage was preparing for an explosion by compacting a bore with explosive powder using a tamping iron. While he was doing this, a spark from the tamping iron ignited the powder, causing the iron to be propelled at high speed straight through Gage’s skull. It entered under the left cheek bone and exited through the top of the head, and was later recovered some 30 yards from the site of the accident. The damage to Gage’s frontal cortex had resulted in a complete loss of social inhibitions, which often led to inappropriate behaviour. In effect, the tamping iron had performed a frontal lobotomy on Gage, but the exact nature of the damage incurred to his brain has been a subject of debate ever since the accident occurred.Gage’s case, therefore, had confirmed Ferrier’s findings that damage to the prefrontal cortex could result in personality changes while leaving other neurological functions intact. Gage’s case is one of the very first which provides evidence that the frontal cortex is involved in personality. Today, the role of frontal cortex in social cognition and executive function is relatively well established; however, this area of research is yet to blossom, and neuroscientists know little more about the relationship between the mind and the brain than did the early neurologists of the 19th century.

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  3. Phineas Gage was an American railroad construction foreman. He was the man that had an iron bar go through his face, behind his eye, and exited out the top of his head. The bar had destroyed most of his frontal lobe in his brain. When he was finally healed enough to return to his parents house in New Hampshire, he had loss of vision in his left eye, and a deep depression on the top of his head. One scientist uses Gage to illustrate a hypothesized link between the frontal lobes, emotion and practical decision-making.

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  4. He was an American railroad construction foreman. He was drilling a hole into a wall to then place blasting powder into it, after he did that the powder exploded sending a long thick pole into his head. He lost vision in his left eye and had lost most of his memory. One scientist uses Gage to illustrate a hypothesized link between the frontal lobes, emotion and practical decision-making.

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  5. Phineas Gage was an american railroad construction foreman. Gage had to add blasting powder, a fuse, and sand, then compact the charge into the hole using a large iron rod. The powder exploded driving a metal pole that was an inch and a fourth in diameter and three feet seven inches in length, through the side of his face. It went right pass the back of his left eye, pierced his left frontal lobe and then it came out from the top of his head. After the accident it was reported that his personality and behavior were different. His friends no longer saw him as the way he used to be before the accident. After the accident scientists learned that the brain controlled more than just the movement of the bran and your language. The scientists also learned that there are different sections of the brain that control differnet parts of the body.

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  6. 1. An American construction railroad foreman. He worked on trains and railroads.

    2. A large iron rod was driven completely through his head.

    3. After the accident, he lost vision in his left eye and most of his memory.Within a few days of his accident, one of Gage’s exposed brain became infected with a “fungus”, and he lapsed into a semi-comatose state. His family prepared a coffin for him, but Gage recovered.

    4. His case was the first to suggest a link between brain trauma and personality change.

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  7. Phineas Gage was an American railroad construction worker that somehow managed to survive having an iron rod shoot through his head and severely damaging the left frontal lobe of the brain. While he was creating an explosive, using the iron rod to push it in and compact it, the powder exploded, shooting the iron rod through his head. He could no longer work at the railroad, and instead just lived the rest of the almost twelve years of life he still had. He became semi-comatose while recovering, but soon got out of it and started walking, talking, and eventually became strong enough to visit his parents. Scientists have learned that the brain, as fragile as it is, can near-fully recover from a serious injury, and brought scientists to believe that there was a connection to the frontal lobes of the brain.

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  8. 1) Phineas Gage was a railroad construction foreman.
    2) A large iron rod was driven completely through his head.
    3) The rod destroyed most of both his frontal lobes. He ended with a lack of foresight. He was either unable to hold a job or just refused to hold a job.
    4) Scientists learned that there are different parts of the brain that controls different parts of the body and that different parts of the brain were responsible for things like movement, speech, and memory.

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  9. Phineas Gage was an American Railroad constructor. He specialized in a "blasting rock gang". Gage was supposed to compress the fuse and sand, however, the metal rod was fired into his face from the explosion. After the disaster, he improved quite a bit, however, when his time came to die, he had many convulsions and died soon after. Scientists found that both fontal lobes were damaged. This accident ruined Gage's life. Although he slowly recovered, his old coworkers would not accept him back for working.

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  10. Phineas Gage was a railroad construction foreman.He is known for surviving a HUGE accident. In the accident a large iron-rod was driven completely through his head. The rod destroyed most of his frontal lobe and greatly changed his personality and behavior. Friends say they didn't even look at him as "Gage" because his personality and behavior had changed SO greatly! One of Gage's duties at the railroad construction was to add blasting powder, a fuse, and sand, then compact the charge into the hole using a large iron rod. the powder exploded, carrying the large iron-rod through his head which he was using at the time. The iron entered on the side of his face...passing back of the left eye, and out at the top of the head. Gage was only 25 when this accident happened.
    Scientists use Gage as an example of a link between the frontal lobes, emotion, behavior and reasonable decision making.

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  11. Phineas Gage was a man who works with railroad construction. He would work with the explosives. While he was laying down a bar, an explosive went off too soon. The blast sent the rod through Gage's head, and it landed a few feet away. Gage blacked out, but amazingly, woke up within a few minutes. He lived, but he was a changed man. Before the accident Gage was described "as having been hard-working, responsible, and 'a great favorite' with the men in his charge", but afterward, "the change in his mind so marked that they could not give him his place again." He became profane, mean, etc. Scientists learned that there was damage to his frontal lobe, which has now been found to be the center of "choosing between good and bad actions (or better and best), overriding and suppressing unacceptable social responses, and determining similarities and differences between things or events" (WIKIPEDIA)

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  12. Phineas Gage (1823-1860) is one of the earliest cases ever recorded of major brain injury. He is like a legend in brain research and studies. He was a railroad construction worker. On 13th September, 1848, 25-year-old Gage and his crew were working on the Rutland and Burlington Railroad near Cavendish in Vermont. Gage was preparing for an explosion by compacting a bore with explosive powder using a tamping iron. While he was doing this, a spark from the tamping iron ignited the powder, causing the iron to be propelled at high speed straight through Gage’s skull. It entered under the left cheek bone and exited through the top of the head, and was later recovered some 30 yards from the site of the accident. Phineas was changed by the accident because his cheek bone, orbit of the eye, and the top of the skull was all severely damaged. Also his personality and behavior also changed, while still leaving neurological functions intact. Scientist learned that it is possible to still know what your are doing and that you do not lose basic skills that you have learned from a brain injury and yet your personality can change.

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  13. 1) Phineas Gage was a American railroad construction foreman for the Rutland and Burlington Railroad. He was 'building' a new railway line in Vermont. An accidental explosion sent an iron rod through his head. It entered through his left cheek and came out through the top right side of his head.
    2) A iron rod that was 3 cm (1¼ in) in diameter and 109 cm (45 in) long was sent through his head because of an explosion at the site he was working at.
    3) Before the accident, he was looked at as a responsible and capable young man. After, his knowledge was not severely changed, but his personality was. He was impatient, insensitive towards others, and irresponsible.
    4) Scientists learned that the brain is not only responsible for movement and language, but personality as well. Since his personality was the most affected area of Phineas, scientists also learned that different parts of the brain control different things.

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  14. 1.) Phineas Gage was a man who worked on Railroad Construction. He was not famous until his tragic accident that he survived.

    2.) After a hole was punctured into rock, Gage placed blasting powder, a fuse, and sand into it, then pushed it in with an iron rod. The powder he was working with exploded and forced the railroad rod into the left side of his brain puncturing his left eye and brain.

    3.) This accident changed his personality enough that his closest friends said that he was a different person. He could also no longer see through his left eye.

    4.) It showed that the place where the brain was impacted could be fatal and the placement of the rod in Phineas's head made it so that he could recover. There was a connection between personality and the brain and that was helped scientists figure out what part of the brain controlled what.

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  15. 1) Phineas Gage was an American railroad building supervisor.

    2) Gage is remembered for his unlikely survival of an accident in which a large iron rod managed to implant itself completely through his head, destroying much of his brain's left frontal lobe.

    3) Reported effects were on his personality and behavior, effects so intense that friends saw him as "no longer Gage."

    4) Scientists learn that the brain contains more than control language and movement. It also powers the emotions and social behaviors. Equally important, scientists determined that the brain processes details for specific funtions in particular brain regions.

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  16. 1. Gage was a person who worked on trains in the 1800s.
    2. A large iron rod was driven through his head.
    3. Phineas had a personality change after his indecent.
    4. Scientists learned a little bit more about how the brain affects who we are. They also learned a little bit more about what the brain can do to survive something like this, along with the way different parts of the brain control different things.

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  17. 1. Phineas Gage was an American railroad constructor. Gage was foreman of a work gang blasting rock while preparing the roadbed for the Rutland & Burlington Railroad outside the town of Cavendish, Vermont.

    2. Phineas Gage is now remembered for his remarkable survival of an accient that involved an iron rod completely going through his head. This injury destroyed much of his brain's left frontal lobe. The functions of the frontal lobes involve the ability to recognize future consequences resulting from current actions, to choose between good and bad actions (or better and best), override and suppress unacceptable social responses, and determine similarities and differences between things or events. Therefore, it is involved in higher mental functions. (definition)

    3. It has been reported by Gage's friends and family that Gage's personality and behavior were so profound that they couldn't even recognize him anymore and he was not longer Phineas Gage

    4. Scientist learned a lot from the Phineas Gage case, a few things are that they started to link frontal lobes, how they function, and what parts of the brain they control, personality, high mental thinking, etc.

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  18. 1. Phineas Gage was a railroad construction foreman; that was what he did for a living.

    2. He survived an iron rod driven all the way through his head, destroying his brain's left frontal lobe.

    3. His personality changed completely. Before the accident, he was hard-working, responsible, and most everyone liked him. After the accident, he is described as fitful, irrelevant, and immature, as well as using excessive amounts of profanity.

    4. Scientists learned more about how the brain processes information, and they also learned that the brain controls emotions and behavior as well as language and movement. The now know that the frontal lobes are in charge of social behavior.

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  19. Phineas Gage was a revelation to the study of neurology. He was part of a railroad construction crew. On September 13, 1848, Gage was using a 43 inch, 13.25 pound tamping iron, a metal spear-like bar used for tamping or pushing down, to put explosive powder into a hole. The powder exploded and the tamping iron shot into the air and ended up in Gage's left cheek. The iron ripped through his brain and out through his skull. An accident like this would most likely give Gage a name in history, but he was especially 'famous' for what Doctor John Martin Harlow discovered. Phineas Gage was a changed man after his accident. It was indeed life-changing, acquaintances of Gage remarked to Dr. Harlow that Gage was different and "no longer Gage." Gage was no longer courteous, and cussed profusely. Gage helped scientists learn about how traumatic brain injuries could change people's personalities. By learning how Gage had been affected and how he changed, scientists could determine what functions different parts of the brains may have had.

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  20. Phineas Gage (1823-1860) is one of the earliest, most prominent documented cases of severe brain injury. This significant patient was an American railroad construction foreman. He had survived an encounter with an iron rod, which was violently driven straight through his left frontal lobe in September 13, 1848 at a construction site of the Rutland & Burlington Railroad. . The impact of the accident was so consequential that his friends saw him as "no longer Gage." Within minutes of the accident, he was conscious and had control over his motions. In April 1849, his doctors granted him permission to leave constant supervision. At that particular time and place, where a Cavendish doctor reported that he noted "loss of vision (and ptosis) of the left eye, a large scar on the forehead, and "upon the top of the head...a deep depression, two inches by one and one-half inches wide, beneath which the pulsations of the brain can be perceived. Partial paralysis of the left side of the face."

    A few days later, Gage's exposed brain became infected with a fungus, which caused his to lapse into a semi-comatose state. Two weeks after that, Harlow released 8 fluid ounces of pus from an abscess under Gage's scalp; this was a wise decision because the opposing action would have caused the infection to seep further into his brain.
    "His contractors, who regarded him as the most efficient and capable foreman in their employ previous to his injury, considered the change in his mind so marked that they could not give him his place again. He is fitful, irreverent, indulging at times in the grossest profanity (which was not previously his custom), manifesting but little deference for his fellows, impatient of restraint of advice when it conflicts with his desires, at times pertinaciously obstinent, yet capricious and vacillating, devising many plans of future operation, which are no sooner arranged than they are abandoned in turn for others appearing more feasible. In this regard, his mind was radically changed, so decidedly that his friends and acquaintances said he was "no longer Gage."

    In 1994, colleagues at the University of Iowa, including Hannah Damasiom, utilized neuroimaging techniques to reconstruct Gage's skull. They found that Gage incurred damage to both the left and right prefrontal cortices. "But according to computer-generated three-dimensional reconstructions of a thin slice computed tomography scan of Gage's skull performed by Ratiu et al (see image and film clip above), the damage to Gage's brain was limited to the left hemisphere." Phineas Gage's accident was considered one of the most significant events contributed to modern neurology.

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  21. Phineas Cage was a railroad construction worker, and he is known for surviving the freak accident of having a large iron rod go through his head. "After a hole was bored into a body of rock, one of Gage's duties was to add blasting powder, a fuse, and sand, then compact the charge into the hole using a large iron rod." The rod destroyed and damaged the majority of his left frontal lobe. He was able to speak after a few minutes, walk with little or no assistance, and sat upright in a cart for the 3/4-mile ride to his lodgings in town. His doctor was Dr. John Harlow, who arrived one hour after the accident. In the nineteenth century, he was known as the "the American Crowbar Case." The rod was about 13 pounds and spectators say that there was up to 80 feet away there was brain and blood. His friends says that his personality and behavior was affected. "Neurologist Antonio Damasio uses Gage to illustrate a hypothesized link between the frontal lobes, emotion and practical decision-making." It is noted that the 1/4 leader point was not there, more damage would have been done.

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  22. Phineas Gase was a foreman of a work gang, which blasted away rock to leave even ground for another railroad. One day the powder exploded unexpectedly, sending a (completely straight, cylindrical) crowbar through his left eye and out the back of his head.

    Gage survived the injury, challenging the conventional understanding of the brain and supporting the theory of cerebral localization. Friends and family describe the man as "not the Gage they knew," although specifics seem fairly limited.

    The theory of cerebral localization received more support after Gage's traumatic accident, but the case is infamous for being skewed to fit various radical theories. Many studies of the case radically contradict both each other and even the established facts about the accident. There may simply be too much speculation to make fair inferences.

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  23. 1) Phineas Gage was the frontman of a railroad assembly crew
    2) He was working on the railway when an explosion sent a spike through his head. It entered right underneath his left cheek, exited through his skull, and landed about 25 yards behind him. The spike was 3'7" and weighed about 13 pounds. It is not sure if Gage was conscious or if he was knocked out during the injury, but most of the front left part of his brain was destroyed.
    3) Gage's personality changed drastically. He became "fitful, irreverent, and grossly profane," and "impatient and obstinate, yet capricious and vacillating, unable to settle on any of the plans he devised for future action". His friends said he wasn't the same after the accident. He also didn't get his job back, and lost vision in one eye.
    4) His injury showed scientists what different parts of the brain controlled. There weren't brain scans or anything back then, so this provided insights into how the brain works.

    http://www.deakin.edu.au/hmnbs/psychology/gagepage/Pgstory.php

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  24. 1. Phineas Gage was a railroad assembly foreman in America.

    2.While at work, there was an explosion. An iron rod was driven straight through his head (in through his left cheek, out the back of his skull). The rod was moving with such force that it continued to travel and landed roughly 25 yards behind him.

    3. Gage became a completely different person. His personality changed so drasticaly that friends and family barely recognized him. He became impatient and fitful, irritable, even. He even lost his vision in one eye.

    4. The incident allowed scientists to make inferences about how the brain worked, and what certain parts of the brain did.

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  25. 1) Gage was the foreman of a work crew that worked for a railroad and blew stuff up.
    2) A 13-pound spike went though his head while blowing stuff up and the left frontal lobe of his brain and his eye got destroyed. Not a good thing to be famous for.
    3) His personality changed. He couldn't make a decision, swore more (which might be due to the pain of a 13 pound spike driven though his head) stubborn, impatient, and fitful.
    4) He advanced our knowledge about the brain.

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  26. He was a frontman of a railroad assembly group. When he was working an explosion sent a 13 pound iron 80 feet and impaled him in the head. He became very fitful and very profane and impatient. Friends said he was never the same after the accident and lost vision in his left eye. This incident showed scientists that different parts of the brain controlled something .

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  27. 1) Phineas Gage was a railroad construction foreman.

    2) While working on a railroad in Vermont, a powder keg exploded, sending a iron spike straight through his head. The spike was about 3 and a half feet long. This spike also damaged a great portion of his frontal lobe. His right eye socket also became defective, and was permenantly closed. He lived, but the incident profoundly changed his personality and emotions.

    3) The spike hit his frontal lobe, responsible for specific emotions. Since most of this section was hit, this will either change the emotions of the person, or make him lose the traits inside the frontal lobe. This changed his personality greatly. He was even called "No longer Gage" by his friends.

    4) In the 19th Century, this incident made scientists more interested in the brain and neurology. How an accident like this could have such a great effect on a person. They also had the brainstorm of the brain having responsibility for emotions and characteristics.

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  28. 1.Phineas Gage was a railroad construction worker
    2.He was working on a railroad when an explosion sent his tamping iron through his head. The tamping iron was 3 feet and seven inches long and weighed about 13 pounds. It was 1 and 1/4 inches in diameter.
    3.Gage's personality changed profoundly.
    4.Scientists learn about different parts of the brain and what they control.

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  29. 1) He was an American Railroad worker. He was a part of the crew that blast the caves open for tunnels.

    2) He was adding more blast powder and he was carrying an iron rod with him and the powder exploded and sent the iron rod through his cheek, up through the top of is head.

    3) The incident caused a lot of damage to the brain and what happened was his personality and attitude totally transformed. His friends no longer liked him.

    4)This incident throughout the United States brought up a discussion about the brain and what scientists learned from this is that you can survive from traumatic brain injury. In fact, Senator Gabrielle Giffords has survived brain injury. No one knows yet, the behavior of Giffords or the effect the Tucson incident has had on her.

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  30. 1.) Phineas Gage was the foreman of a railroad construction gang.
    2.) On September 13th, 1848, an accidental explosion sent a three foot, seven inch tamping iron through his head.
    3.) Gage had a large personality change. He became erratic and profane. Many said he just wasn't the same after what had happened to him.
    4.) Gage's case was the first to prompt scientists to think that there was a link between brain trauma and personality change.

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  31. 1. Who was Phineas Gage? What did he do for a living?

    1a. Phineas Gage was a railroad construction foreman who lived in the 1800s.

    2. What happened to him? While working on the railroads, an iron rod was driven completely through his head. The accident destroyed the frontal lobe of Gage's brain.

    3. How did his accident change who Phineas was? He dramatically changed his behavior and personality. He became much more profane, irreverent and fitful. He lost sight in one eye, and he didn't get his railroad job back. His friends said, "He was no longer Gage."

    4. What did scientist learn from Phineas' case? The learned what the frontal lobe of the brain controls and what happens when the area is damaged because of an accident or other cause.

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  32. Phineas Gage was a middle aged miner, who was working on a railway, leveling the ground. but when he planted the explosives, covered them in sand, and then a tamping iron+fuse, the explosives went off prematurely, sending the tamping iron through his face, skull, and brain. in a few minutes, he was walking and talking, remarkably, and then his friends took him to the doctors, where the cleaned and dressed the wound. ( the standard medical procedure for the time period) after the accident, Gage was a much less responsible person, used profanity excessively, and had no respect for social norms and customs. 12 years later when he died, scientists discovered that even though the tamping iron passed through his frontal lobe, not much seemed to change. from this they deduced that the frontal lobe must have been more for personality, and that not all of the brain was needed as was previously thought.

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  33. 1.) Who was Phineas Gage? What did he do for a living?
    He worked on railroads and was the first person (documented) to survive an object destroying part of his brain.

    2.) What happened to him?
    He had an iron rod puncture his brain.

    3.) How did his accident change who Phineas was?
    It destroyed part of his brain, (left frontal lobe) which deals with decision making. But oddly enough, his personality did not change that much.

    4.) What did scientist learn from Phineas' case?
    Antonio Damasio, a famed neuroscientist uses this case to demostrate his theory of the frontal lobe controlling emotional and rational decision. Mostly what was learned was placement of brain functions.

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  34. Phineas Gage was a man who survived severe brain damage and personality changes after an injury to his brain. He accidentally set off an explosive he had set up for his contracting job, and it blew a 3'7" tamping iron through his head point first. Most of the front half of the left side of his brain was destroyed, but Dr, John Martin Harlow treated him quite well. In fact, Gage returned home just 10 weeks later. However, when he returned to his job a few moths later, he was denied a position because his personality had changed drastically. Before, Gage was a calm, efficient worker, but his friends said he now angered easily, used bad language, was indecisive, and had become very different from the Phineas Gage they had known. In later years, his injury helped scientists to understand what parts of the brain affected certain parts of the personality or body.

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  35. Gage was a construction worker on the railroads in New Hampshire, well known for having a large iron rod driven through his head and living for eleven years after. He and the rest of his construction crew were blasting holes in rock as a means of preparing a railroad. After that, Gage was supposed to fill the hole with blasting powder (which he would light) and sand, and then compact it using an iron rod. His accident may have happened because he left out the sand. The powder exploded, launching the rod through the side of his head. As it was a long rod (almost four feet), it came all the way out the other side of his head, passing through the back of his left eye. He spoke within a few minutes after the accident.
    Gage became "an odd kind of famous," but was in good physical and mental health just months after the accident, despite having large traumas in several parts of his skull.
    Since the case happened in the mid 1800's, Gage's case showed scientists more about the brain in general.

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  36. 1.) Who was Phineas Gage? What did he do for a living?
    Phineas Gage was a railroad construction foreman.

    2.) What happened to him?
    When he was working on a railroad he was assigned the job of lighting the dynamite fuse. This ended with an explosion that sent a spike right through his head, going from under his left cheek and continuing on through the skull, going 25 to 30 ft behind him.

    3.) How did his accident change who Phineas was?
    Instead of being the shrewd, smart businessman with a very energetic personality, he became fitful, irreverent, and grossly profane." All of his friends said that he was: "no longer Gage." and after the accident, he lost all vision in his left eye.

    4.) What did scientist learn from Phineas' case?
    Because of this injury and the results of it, scientists were able to get a peek into how the brain works and what parts control what. This was very beneficial, considering how long ago it was and how their was no such thing as a CAT scan and such.

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  37. Phineas Gage was a railroad construction worker. While working a crowbar went through his head and destroyed most of left frontal lobe of his brain. Due to this injury, his personality an behavior changed. Gage helped the scientists learn about the brain, Before this accident scientists thought that the left frontal lobe of the brain controlled a persons motor skills and language, but then approximately 20 years after the accident it was realized that the left frontal lobe of the brain controlled behavior.

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  38. 1. Phineas Gage was a railroad builder during the 1840s.
    2. He was injured in an explosion that sent a 13.25 lb 3'7" iron pole into his head, injuring his left eye and the frontal lobe of his brain.
    3. Gage's personality changed completely. He was described after the accident as "fitful, irreverent, indulging at times in the grossest profanity (which was not previously his custom), manifesting but little deference for his fellows, impatient of restraint or advice when it conflicts with his desires, at times pertinaciously obstinate". Before the accident, he showed none of these characteristics. Physically, Gage made a full recovery.
    4. The Gage case was the first time that scientists thought that specific parts of the brain could have control over different parts of the body.

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  39. 1.) Who was Phineas Gage? What did he do for a living?
    Born in 1823, he was a railroad construction foreman.

    2.) What happened to him?
    One day, after drilling a hole in the rock, he inserted blasting powder and a fuse, forgetting to pack in sand. He compressed it with a metal rod, lit the fuse, and the rod shot through his head, going in near the right side of the jaw, leaving at the top of his brain. Amazingly, he was walking and talking in 5 minutes.

    3.) How did his accident change who Phineas was?

    Although he physically recovered after being semi-comatose, his behavior and personality strayed from his old self. Before, he was "industrious and responsible", but later, he exhibited extremely childish behavior. It is believed that damage to his frontal cortex inhibited his social skills.
    4.) What did scientist learn from Phineas' case?

    It was a landmark case in neurology. It led to answers about the formerly speculative areas of the brain and what they control. John Martyn Harlow's detailed reports helped preserve his case, and allowed neurology to take off.

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  40. 1) Phineas Gage was foreman of a crew of railroad construction workers. He was also one of the earliest reports of severe brain injury.

    2) He was working on a railway and he was using a tamping iron to compact a bore with explosive powder. The tamping iron sent off a spark that ignited the powder send the iron right through his skull. It entered his left cheekbone and out the top of his head. It is not known if he was conscious or not when it happened. He was able to walk minutes after it happened and he sat down and was then treated. He wasn't treated surgically.

    3) His personality changed. Some said, "no longer Gage." He became "fitful, irreverent, and grossly profane. He was also impatient.

    4) His injury shows what parts of the brain control. How his personality changed from his frontal lobe being injured.

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  41. 1.) Who was Phineas Gage? What did he do for a living?
    He was the first recorded case of major brain injuries after having suffered from personality changes after a brain trauma. He worked to excavate a site (blow dirt away using TNT and dynamite) for railways.

    2.) What happened to him?
    While setting up for an explosion, a spark ignited the explosives and sent a tamping iron (what was plugged into the explosives so the power was directed into the rock) which rocketed towards Gage. Weighing 6kg and being 3 ft. 8 inches in length and 1.25 inches in diameter at one end, the iron was found 30 yards away after having entered just under the left cheek and left though the top of his head.

    3.) How did his accident change who Phineas was?
    First, it should be known that Gage had remarkably lived through the ordeal and was walking in just a mere minutes after the accident. After a while, a part of his brain had become affected with fungus and he lapsed into a semi-comatose state. 8 ounces of pus that would've otherwise killed Gage if it had been left to leak into the brain had been drained from the wound. But while scientists and physicians pronounced Gage to be healthy and fully recovered without any harm done, those close to him noticed severe personality disorders. Gage's personality disorders were classified as "mental manifestations." He had lost what scientists had referred to as "social inhibitions." In other words, Gage lost his sense of humiliations and became socially uncouth.

    4.) What did scientist learn from Phineas' case?
    The publication of Gage's case sparked the the beginning and rising of neuropsychology while pushing out phrenology. People began mapping which sections of the brain led to which thoughts, emotions, and etc. It confirmed that damage to the frontal cortex resulted in personality changes while leaving bodily and basic as well as neurological functions in tact. Gage was the first case to solidify that the frontal cortex is directly related to social behavior.

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  42. 1. Phineas Gage was an American railroad construction foreman, and was one of the earliest documented cases of severe brain injury.

    2. Gage was working on a railway, and his job was to add blasting powder, a fuse, then to compact in in the ground with a metal rod. While compacting the gunpowder exploded, sending the large spike through gages head, destroying most of his brains left frontal lobe. The rod entered through his face, passed behind his right eye, and out through the back of his head. The rod was an inch and a fourth in diameter, about 3 feet 7 inches long, and weighing 13 and 1/4 pounds.

    3. The accident had many effects on his personality and behavior. Some effects so different and noticeable that friends saw him as no longer being Gage. Pre-accident gage was known as hard working, responsible, and a favorite with the men in charge, and was regarded to as the most efficient and capable foreman in their employ. Post-accident gage was known to be fitful, irreverent, indulging, he started using profanities, and was impatient of restraint or advice when it went against what he wanted, so much so, that he lost his job.

    4. Gages injury showed scientists what parts of the brain controlled what. Gages personality before was vastly different than his personality afterwards. There were no such things as MRI scans o brain scans or anything back then, so this incident helped inform scientists on how the brain functions.

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  43. Phineas Gage was just a simple man living a simple life. He was an railroad construction worker, whose entire life changed one day. On September 13, 1848, at around 4:30 PM Gage, who was a mere 25 years old at the time, was going about his normal work day. He was clearing a pathway for a future railroad by gang blasting the rock.
    When blasting, a crowbar 3 feet 7 inches long entered his skull by the side of his face and exited through the back of his head, landing an alleged 80 feet away. Miraculously, Gage survived the accident with minor physical damages, but in turn suffered mentally. Gage's personality was said to have changed drastically. The part of his brain damaged, the left frontal lobe, controlled emotion and decision-making. Since this was the part of the brain that was damaged that is why his mental damages lead to his personality becoming much less mature; which caused him to often use foul language.

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  44. 1.) Phineas Gage was a man who lived during the 19th century. He had a job as the foreman of a railroad work gang. He also had the specific, (and unfortunate) job of adding blasting powder, a fuse and sand to the hole where the charge would be set off. Then he would have to compact the mixture into the hole using a large cylinder of iron.

    2.) On September 13, of the year 1848, Gage was in the process of compacting the powder for blasting, when it ignited and launched the iron rod he had been using, straight through his head.This destroyed most of the left side of his brain and the use of one of his eyes. It also changed his personality.

    3.)His behaviors and personality were altered. He became short tempered , profane and childish. Where as before he rarely swore, he now felt the need to swear frequently and childishly.

    4.)They learned that certain parts of the brain control different aspects of our being.Where as one part may control movement, another may control problem solving.

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  45. 1) Phineas Gage was, in 1848, a successful and level-headed foreman of a railroad construction crew.

    2) On September 13, 1848, Gage was using a tamping iron to pack TNT into a hole; as he was doing so, the powder detonated. The iron shot through his left cheek, dismembered the optical nerves of the left eye and tore through one side of the brain. It shot out of his skull and landed many dozen yards away. Despite this, Gage may not have even lost consciousness: if he did, it was very briefly. He was up and walking within minutes. Gage had no problem with speech and memory, either.

    3) Gage's personality was completely changed. He was once a courteous young gentleman, but now he behaved as if he were always drunk. He also swore constantly. After the accident, his friends described him as "no longer Gage".

    4) The Gage's case brought to scientists the realization that social behaviors and emotions are linked to the brain. Gage became the most famous neuroscience patient and the first to link the frontal cortex to social behaviors.

    http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/Phineas-Gage-Neurosciences-Most-Famous-Patient.html

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  46. Phineas Gage was a railroad constructor. He was in a blasting rock gang. In this group his job was to sandand compress the fuse. Sadly, a metal rod was shot into his face from an explosion. After the disaster his personality changed, behaving as if he were always drunk. He also lost vision in one side of his eye. Other than that his life was pretty normal except for when he began to die. He had many convulsions and died soon after. Scientists found that both fontal lobes were damaged.

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  47. 1. Phinaes Gage was an American Railroad worker working for the Rutland & Burlington Railroad Company.

    2. A 3 foot 7 inch iron rod was driven through the side of his face destroying much of his left frontal lobe and exiting out the back of his head passing near the back of his left eye.

    3. The accident changed his personality traits as much of his left frontal lobe was destroyed.

    4. Scientists learned that traumatic and severe brain damage can change the way the brain works and, in turn what the person's personality is like.

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